


Harry Potter and the Game of Clue

by momentarilypermanent



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-04-04 19:40:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14027358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momentarilypermanent/pseuds/momentarilypermanent
Summary: A transcribed game of Harry Potter clue, played by myself, my friend, and my little sister, turned into fanfic.





	1. Intro

Hermione was in her usual chair in the library when the announcement came. She sat up straighter in her chair and set down her quill, her mind returning from her History of Magic assignment.

“-Udents please return to their dormitories immediately. Leave your belongings where they are. Please be cautious and carry your wand at the ready.”

Professor McGonagall’s magically magnified voice bounced around the vaulted ceiling like a ferret. Hermione stood up, dropping her book to the table with a thud. Around her, panicked students were beginning to stream toward the doors, and Hermione joined them, wand in hand. She scanned the crowd for her friends, but she was surrounded by yellow scarves. Hermione tried to push her way out of the cluster of Hufflepuffs to no avail.  _ They’ll be in the dormitory,  _ she reassured herself,  _ I just need to get to Gryffindor Tower as quickly as possible. _

And she let herself be swept onward by the crowd.

***

“Harry! Harry!”

Harry turned around to see a flash of red hair and dark robes streak past the window before Ron burst through Hagrid’s door. At the sight of Ron’s face, Harry set down his tea and stood up. 

“What is it? What’s happened?” he asked, already reaching for his wand.

“There’s just been an announcement. Everyone’s to report to their dormitories immediately, drop your stuff and everything. I was on my way when I remembered you were with Hagrid and hadn’t heard it. I ran all the way down. Wands out, they said.”

“Wands out?” asked Hagrid. “What’s goin’ on up there? Perhaps I’d best come with you two, see you safely to the castle.”

“Let’s go,” said Harry. He blew out the candle, and started up the hill after Ron, who had already left. As Hagrid closed the door behind them, there was a peal of thunder and Harry began to run.

***

Ginny swooped, rolled, and caught the pass from Angelina with one hand. She grinned, but her triumph was cut short by a shout from below. She turned and saw Fred frantically waving her down. Rolling her eyes, she descended and landed in front of him.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Something’s wrong. We’re supposed to get to our dormitories immediately. Leave your quaffle there. Wand out.”

Ginny opened her mouth to protest, but thought better of it and dropped the Quaffle. Angelina landed behind her.

“What’s going on?”

“An emergency of some sort,” said Ginny. “We have to go to our dorm.”

“McGonagall sounded very worried,” said Fred. “Practice is over. Come on.”

_ Professor McGonagall, worried? This must be bad,  _ thought Ginny as she took one last look at the darkening sky.

***

The room was filled with anxious Gryffindors, all waiting to hear why they had been called to their dormitories on what should’ve been an ordinary Thursday afternoon. As the last few stragglers climbed through the portrait hole, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and everyone fell silent. 

“You will be wondering why you have been directed to your common rooms with such haste,” she said. Hermione nudged Harry, but he ignored her. 

“It is best not to delay in telling you any longer,” McGonagall continued. Harry stood up straighter, trying to get a better view, and Hermione nudged him again. 

“A Death Eater is believed to have entered Hogwarts Castle.”

There were several loud gasps, and one first year gave a loud scream. Professor McGonagall looked at him, and he fell silent. 

“An owl has been sent to the Auror Office and all the teachers are prepared to protect the school. The trespasser will undoubtedly be apprehended shortly. In the meantime, however, we must ask that all of you remain in your dormitories, stick together, and above all, stay alert.”

Hermione nudged Harry once more and he whirled on her. 

“What is it?” he hissed. 

“Neville isn’t here,” Hermione replied, “He never came into the common room. Nobody’s seen him.  _ He’s missing. _ ”


	2. TURN ONE: HARRY

_She told us to stay in our dormitory,_ thought Harry, _but she didn’t know that Neville was out there somewhere. We have to find him!_ _He could be anywhere! He could have been kidnapped! He could be -_

Harry was startled out of his panic by Ginny, who had walked right into him.

“Excuse me,  _ Ginny, _ ” he said, more sarcastically than he had intended. “But where do you think you’re going? McGonagall told us to stay in the Gryffindorm, remember?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Neville isn’t here. He was supposed to meet me an hour ago to go over some Herbology work, but he never showed up. I’m going to go find him, which is more than you’re doing to help!”

“And how do you think you’re going to find him?” Harry shot back. “Hogwarts is a big place, you know!”

“Harry is right,” said Hermione, appearing at his side. “We have to go at this strategically. It’s not coincidence that he’s vanished at the same time a Death Eater’s broken in.”

“He’s being held somewhere,” said Harry, “I know it. We have to find him before it’s too late.”

“But who could have kidnapped him? Where? And how?” asked Hermione.

“Let’s take my invisibility cloak and get out of here,” said Harry, “we’re not going to save Neville if we stay put.”

“Too true,” said Hagrid. Harry jumped. He had forgotten that Hagrid was there.

“Are you - are you coming too?” he asked.

“Of course I am,” replied Hagrid, “if I can fit under the cloak, that is.”

Harry grabbed his wand, his cloak, and a bezoar from the cupboard, and they made their way toward the portrait hole. Harry threw the cloak over the three of them and they climbed out into the hall. Ginny pulled the cloak off, explaining that it wasn’t helping anyway, they just looked like a herd of feet and knees, and stuffed it in her pocket. They continued down the hallway, each lost in their own thoughts.

“I’m going to dye my hair purple,” Harry announced as they turned a corner.

“No you’re not, you’ve just got extensions!” said Hermione. Ginny turned to Harry, her eyebrows raised. 

“Well I’m going to braid them into my braids,” Harry said defensively. Ginny giggled. 

“I just like imagining Harry with braids,” she explained. 

Hagrid cleared his throat. “So, Harry,” he asked, “where are we going?”

Harry hadn’t thought about that. Where were they going? Where might Neville be? It couldn’t be the library, Hermione had just come from there. And it couldn’t be the Great Hall, because he had come past it on the way to Gryffindor tower and it had been empty.  _ If I wanted to kidnap someone, what sort of room would I go to? What would I need?  _ Need. That was it!

“The Room of Requirement.” Harry said, “Watch me engagin’, I’m escapin’, I’m enragin’, I’m OUT!”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing,” said Harry, “I just said we’re going to the Room of Requirement.”

***

Harry approached the final corner slowly, his wand at the ready. Hermione, Ginny, and Hagrid waited several paces behind him. As he made the final few steps toward the door of the Room of Requirement, Harry’s mind raced, trying to determine who or what he might find inside. Who could have kidnapped Neville?  _ Probably Crabbe and Goyle, those thugs, _ he thought. Slowly, he reached for the doorknob and pulled.

The room was empty.

Harry stepped inside. “I bet it was Crabbe and Goyle anyway!” he shouted to the silent walls. Suddenly, a twinkle of light caught his eye. He moved toward it, and seeing that it was a small glass vial, he picked it up. It was empty.

“They probably used a sleeping draught,” he murmured, “it seems like something they would do.”

“Sleeping drot?” said Hermione, walking in behind him. “It’s pronounced  _ draft _ , not  _ drot. _ ”

“Is not,” said Ginny, “It’s a droft!”

“A drat!”

“A  _ draft! _ ”

“Drot!”

“Droft!”

“Whatever!” shouted Harry, “the point is, I think Crabbe and Goyle gave Neville a sleeping dra - dro - drof - thing in order to kidnap him.”

“You do?” said Ginny. 

“Right here, in this very room,” Harry added, holding up the vial. “Hermione, do you know anything that might help?”

“No,” said Hermione, “I haven’t seen Crabbe and Goyle anywhere.”

“I know something,” interrupted Ginny. She pulled Harry closer and whispered in his ear. 

“It can’t have been Crabbe and Goyle, I saw them heading into the Slytherin common room. It must’ve been someone else. I wouldn’t tell Hermione though, she’s acting a little funny.”

“I, er, I won’t.” said Harry. “And thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You two go on,” said Harry. “I think I’ll stay here and have a look around. Take my invisibility cloak, though, Ginny.”

Hermione looked at him curiously, but nodded and turned to leave. Ginny threw the cloak around them, and they vanished, leaving Harry alone with the empty vial. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> each chapter is being posted in sections daily on my instagram, @phi.random


	3. TURN TWO: HERMIONE

Hermione didn’t know what Harry and Ginny were up to, with all their whispering, but she was determined to find Neville, with or without their help. She only needed a place to start.  _ Where did I last see him? _ she thought, then realized he hadn’t been in Transfiguration that afternoon.  _ I saw him at breakfast. The Great Hall, then.  _

She turned abruptly, dragging Ginny with her. 

“We’re going to the Great Hall.”

“We are?”

“We are.”

Hermione stumbled around the next corner, with Ginny following behind. Her mind was racing, calculating all the possible ways Neville could have been overtaken.  _ I think Harry may have been right about Crabbe and Goyle,  _ she mused,  _ but a sleeping draught just doesn’t seem right. They wouldn’t know how to brew one. _

Hermione stepped through the high doorway into the Great Hall, her wand at the ready, but there was no one there. 

“Hermione?”

She jumped nearly a foot in the air.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Harry.”

“Harry? How did you--”

Harry stepped out from behind a pillar, and Hermione blinked at him in amazement. 

“A passage opened up from the room of requirement to here,” he explained. 

Hermione looked around the room, searching for anything that could shed light on Neville’s disappearance. 

“I think you were right about Crabbe and Goyle, Harry, but I don’t think it was a sleeping draught, I think it was...” her eye caught on a shattered ceramic pot, lying next to the Slytherin table. Scattered soil surrounded it. Hermione bent down to pick up one of the shards and noticed a small, squishy pink object. An earplug. 

“Mandrake,” she said with certainty. “They used a mandrake to knock him out and kidnap him. Right here.”

“Who did?” inquired Ginny innocently. 

“Crabbe and Goyle, of course.” Hermione replied, glancing sideways at Harry, whose eyes had widened. Ginny looked at the floor. 

“Ginny, do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Erm,” said Ginny, “I don’t know...”

“Oh my gosh, who  _ are  _ you?!” Harry exploded. Ginny turned bright red, twisting the fabric of her robe in her hands nervously. 

“It wasn’t Crabbe and Goyle,” she said at last. “I saw them heading to the dungeons. They didn’t kidnap Neville.” 

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Hermione said. 

“I wasn’t sure I could trust you!”

“You don’t think you can trust me?”

“I didn’t - that’s not - look, any one of us could be under an Imperius, or not who we say we are at all!”

“Oh come off it, Ginny,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes. 

_ She has a point,  _ said a small but insistent part of her brain,  _ you don’t know for sure that either of them can be trusted right now. And there’s no way for them to properly trust you.  _

“Maybe it would be better,” she said out loud, “if we split up. Divide and conquer.”

Harry nodded. “I want to head back to the room of requirement and have another look around.”

“I think I’ll stay here and see if I can figure anything out about this pot,” said Hermione. “And you, Ginny?”

“I’ll move on. I have some ideas of my own.”


	4. TURN THREE: GINNY

She was on her way to the fourth floor when something caught her attention. A sound, very slight, but increasing in volume as it came nearer.  _ Footsteps.  _

Ginny froze. The footsteps were now accompanied by the swish of a robe. Whoever it was was almost here.  _ A teacher? A student? The Death Eater?  _ Ginny didn’t want to find out. Suddenly she remembered Harry’s invisibility cloak, still wadded up in her pocket. She pulled it out and threw it over herself, backing up against the wall, just in time to see Lee Jordan turn the corner. 

Ginny relaxed, loosening her grip on the cloak slightly. 

“Crucio!” 

Ginny managed to stifle her scream when she realized Lee’s curse was not directed at her. He had no idea she was there. But at the other end of the hallway... _ Harry and Hermione _ . 

She watched as they crumbled to the floor, Hermione’s head hitting the stone with a distant but sickening thunk. Harry fell more slowly, his landing broken by Hermione’s body. Lee took a step closer to them, drawing his wand arm back in preparation for another curse. 

“Cruc-” 

“Stupefy!” she screamed, dropping the cloak at last. 

***

Lee Jordan crumpled to the ground as Harry and Hermione slowly stood up, still visibly shaking. Ginny started towards them but stopped when she heard footsteps, throwing the invisibility cloak over herself and readying her wand. 

Professor McGonagall ran around the corner, stopping short at the sight of Lee’s unconscious form and Harry and Hermione’s trembling. 

“What are you doing in the halls?” she demanded. “And what has happened to Mister Jordan?” She knelt beside him and felt for a pulse, then straightened and fixed Harry and Hermione with her iciest glare. 

“He tried to cast the Cruciatus Curse on us,” Hermione offered, her voice as tremulous as her hands.

McGonagall paled. “Miss Granger, that is a terrible accusation to make.”

“It’s true, Professor,” added Harry. “It was lucky that...Hermione had the presence of mind to Stupefy him.”

“That’s very well, Miss Granger,” said McGonagall, “but the fact remains that you two were told to remain in the common room for your safety. Fifteen points will be deducted from Gryffindor - each.”

The professor turned on her heel and stalked off down the hallway with Lee Jordan floating like a balloon beside her, and Hermione began to hum. As McGonagall drew farther out of earshot, Hermione’s hum became louder and louder until she was singing out loud. 

“Ba de ya, surely you remember, ba de ya,” she sang, “dancing in September, ba de ya, never was a cloudy daaaaaay.”

“Er, Hermione? Why are you singing September?” asked Harry. 

Hermione shrugged. “It was stuck in my head.”

Ginny rolled her eyes, but of course her eyes were invisible, so her expression went unnoticed.  _ It’s probably best to leave these two here,  _ she thought.  _ They’re no help at all.  _

_ *** _

Ginny had wandered up several stories before she paused to consider where she was going. She looked at the stone walls and dark windows around her blankly. They held no information for her. She found a staircase, then another, and another, leading upwards. She was beginning to think she was entirely lost ( _ perhaps that was what had happened to Neville _ ) when she stumbled upon a silvery rope ladder. The Divination room. 

“I’ve never been in here at night,” she said out loud, her voice echoing back to her as she climbed the ladder. 

As she pulled herself into the dark classroom, she found herself face to face with a pile of alarmingly fresh rodent droppings. 

Most girls in her class, especially the purebloods, probably wouldn’t know rat poop if they saw it. Most of the girls in her class, however, didn’t have brothers like Fred and George. Or brothers like Ron, with pets like Scabbers. 

“Scabbers is such a horrible name for a pet,” she said to the poop. “What was Percy thinking?”

She maneuvered easily around the pile and stepped into the center of the empty room. Suddenly a thought struck her. 

“Peter Pettigrew,” she whispered, “the  _ rat! _ ”

Ginny turned a slow circle, scanning the room for clues of Pettigrew’s presence. Her eye caught on a solitary teacup, which had apparently not been cleared away. It was tipped to one side, as if it had been knocked over, and it said in a small pool of tea. She reached out one hesitant finger, and discovered that the tea was still warm. 

“Someone was just here.”

Her mind raced, constructing the story. Everyone knew Neville didn’t do well in Divination, perhaps he had been up here doing extra work for Professor Trelawney, when Pettigrew slipped something into his tea...a sleeping draught! Trelawney had gone for help, and Pettigrew had carried off Neville while she was out of the room. But the tea was still warm, if that was the case, he couldn’t have made it far. 

“Pettigrew!” she yelled, turning back toward the ladder, “I know you’re out there! You used a sleeping draught to capture Neville!”

No sooner had the words escaped her mouth than a head appeared at the ladder. 

“Draft!” said Harry, looking smug. Suddenly another head popped up beside him. 

“Droft!” said Hermione. 

Ginny grinned. “Drot!”

“Drat!” Hermione shot back. 

“Oh my goodness, people, does it  _ matter? _ ” Harry said, rolling his eyes. Maybe correcting Ginny hadn’t been such a good idea after all. 

“Well, no,” Ginny laughed, “it doesn’t matter. But  _ you  _ started it.”

“Whatever. You think Pettigrew did it?”

“I found this knocked over teacup and some rat droppings on the landing. Looks like you sat in them, actually.”

Harry jumped to his feet. 

“Ginny,” he said abruptly, “it wasn’t Pettigrew. Don’t ask me how I know, but trust me. It wasn’t him.”

Hermione looked puzzled, but Ginny merely nodded, accepting the information with no comment. 

“Has anyone any idea where the hospital wing is?” she asked. 

“What do you mean?” said Hermione. “Haven’t you been there before?”

“Of course, but just now I’ve no idea how to get there,” Ginny noticed her friends’ confused looks and added, “it’s been a long day.”

“It’s, er, down the ladder, take a left then the second right, down two sets of stairs but skip the fourth step on the second set, around the corner and down the hall to your left.” said Hermione. 

Harry watched as Ginny wandered distractedly away to examine the teacup, then turned his thoughts once more to Neville’s mysterious disappearance. 


	5. TURN FOUR: HARRY

Harry had tried to appear to know what was going on in front of his friends, but really he had no idea what had happened to Neville. His only real lead so far was that empty vial in the Room of Requirement, but even that didn’t reveal any clues as to who it might have been, or indeed what might have befallen poor Neville in the time they’d been wandering around searching for him.  _ Best return to the Room of Requirement, _ he thought, and remembered that Hagrid was still there, waiting for him. He’d better hurry. Harry would trust Hagrid with his life, but what if the thing that had taken Neville wasn’t a person, but some kind of animal? Hagrid would probably try to adopt it. 

When Harry reached the Room of Requirement, however, he found everything as he had left it. The empty vial was still on the table, and Hagrid was still waiting, no monsters in sight. No new clues either. 

Harry paced back and forth, trying to reason out what could have happened to Neville. He was convinced that some sort of potion was involved, and that the kidnapping had taken place in this room, but who had done it?

“Hagrid, what do you-” he began, but stopped when he felt a strange sensation. 

Something was moving. Something in one of his pockets.  _ Perhaps it’s Pettigrew after all! _ He thought, as he scrambled to check each of his pockets in turn. 

He felt a sudden bite on his thigh and frantically turned the pocket inside out. A book tumbled out, and promptly lunged for Harry’s feet, attempting to bite his ankle and latching onto the hem of his robes. 

“Aargh!” he screamed. “Get it off! What’s it doing?!”

Hagrid stood up slowly, looking puzzled at Harry’s panic. 

“Why, it’s only a book,” he said, bending down to pick it up, “stop kickin’ a moment and I’ll fix it for ya.”

Hagrid gently pried the book from Harry’s robes, then stroked its spine until it seemed to relax in his giant hands. 

“It’s the Monster Book of Monsters,” said Harry. “But—mine always has the belt on, and I don’t carry it around in my pocket!”

Hagrid shrugged and Harry grabbed a length of string which lay helpfully on a nearby table ( _ thank you, Room _ ) and wrapped it around the book. 

“Who could have taken the belt off? And put it in my robe?” he said aloud. 

“Seems to me,” said Hagrid, “it must ‘ave been someone as doesn’t like you, Harry.”

“Well that really sheds a light on the situation,” Harry said sarcastically, but even as he said it, a thought struck him. 

Umbridge. 

_ Someone who doesn’t like me. Check. Someone with access to my books during class. Check. Someone I’ve been serving many detentions with. Check again. Someone with a grudge against Neville. Someone who is without a doubt evil.  _

“That little pink bitch...” Harry breathed. 

He snatched the empty vial from the table and examined it frantically. Was that a bit of pink thread caught on the rim? No, it was only some reflected light. There was no way to tell whether Umbridge had touched the vial, not without a Muggle fingerprint set...

Harry remembered he was in the Room of Requirement and turned around. There, on a nearby shelf, was a Muggle fingerprinting kit. He picked it up gratefully and turned the box over, looking for instructions on how to use it. Hagrid watched quietly as Harry pulled a small booklet from the box and began flipping through it. 

“Harry,” said a voice, “that’s never going to work. You’re making  _ two  _ stupid mistakes.”

Harry whirled around, wand at the ready, but lowered it when he saw Hermione standing there, with her hands on her hips. 

“First of all, you wouldn’t be able to recognize Umbridge’s fingerprint if you found it, because you have no idea what her print looks like,” she continued. 

“Probably evil,” said Harry. 

Hermione ignored him. “And secondly, you’ve just put your own fingerprints all over it, so your so-called ‘evidence’ will make  _ you  _ the kidnapper!”

Harry blinked, then looked down. Hermione was right. The vial was there in his hand. He has smudged whatever had been there.  _ And even if I hadn’t,  _ he thought,  _ any print I would’ve found could have been Albert Einstein’s, for all I knew. _

“Well,” he said, “I still think it was Umbridge. Just because I don’t have any proof doesn’t mean it can’t be true. Remember Snape, in first year? He really  _ was  _ up to something, you know.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. 

“Harry, what he was  _ up  _ to was preventing Quirrel from—oh, never mind. You’re accusing Umbridge, then? Despite having no concrete evidence?”

Harry straightened his shoulders and put on his best confident face, holding the glass vial before him like a shield. 

“Yes, Hermione, I am. I believe that Professor Dolores Umbridge, on this very spot in the Room of Requirement, gave Neville a sleeping draught-”

“Drat. A sleeping drat.”

Harry glowered at Hermione, but continued as if he hadn’t heard her, “a sleeping draught and kidnapped him.”

Hermione looked amused. “That’s very well put, Harry, but your logic is flawed. It  _ obviously  _ can’t have been here, in this room. Personally I’m not convinced it was Umbridge, either, but it’s possible. Shall we see if we can discover anything else?”


	6. TURN FIVE: HERMIONE

Hermione and Harry walked quietly along the darkened corridor, each lost in their own thoughts. Hagrid loomed behind them, but he was quiet as well. It was due to this quiet that all three were so quick to react to the soft sound ahead of them. 

In an instant, Hermione put out her Lumos, Harry brandished his wand, and Hagrid stepped in front of both of them. They stayed frozen in that tableau for a moment, listening tensely for any further sound. There was none. Slowly, Harry’s wand arm relaxed, and Hermione peeked out from behind Hagrid’s elbow. Still there was silence. At last Hagrid, too, relaxed and they began to walk again, more cautiously than before. 

They had only gone a short distance when a cat appeared seemingly from the very darkness ahead of them. 

Harry stiffened. “ _ Mrs. Norris! _ ” he hissed. 

But as the cat came closer, they could see that it wasn’t Mrs. Norris. It was far too clean, for one thing, and it had odd square shaped markings around its eyes. 

“Ah, Professor!” said Hagrid. 

Harry and Hermione looked at each other curiously. 

“So glad ye’ve arrived! I was just takin’ these students somewhere as they’d be safe,” he continued. 

_ Has Hagrid gone entirely mad?  _ Wondered Hermione.  _ But then again, he’s always been odd about animals.  _ She crouched down to the cat’s level. 

“Why, hello there,” she said in the most serious voice she could muster, “do you know my friend Crookshanks?”

She held her hand out, but the cat only stared at it severely. As Hermione withdrew her hand, the cat straightened and became taller. The markings on its face became square glasses and its fur seemed to vanish. In a few moments the severe-looking cat was replaced with an even more severe-looking Professor McGonagall. 

“Miss Granger. I thought I had told you to go back to your dormitory.”

Hermione tried desperately to think of an appropriate answer. “I—we—”

“We were on our way back, Professor,” Harry interrupted, “but we got lost. I forgot it was a Tuesday, so I thought the second hallway on the fourth floor on the east side would lead to the stairs we needed, but I forgot about that one intersection that rotates ninety degrees every week.”

“And it’s dark,” Hermione added quickly. 

Professor McGonagall looked skeptical, but did not comment. Hermione shifted back and forth and twirled her wand in her fingers nervously. The silence stretched onward until Harry cleared his throat. 

“We, er, need to go to the—”

“The hospital wing,” said Hermione. 

“I’ve sprained something.”

“It’s dark, you know, and we were going down the stairs—”

“And all of a sudden I tripped and hurt my—my foot.”

“His ankle.”

“My ankle,” Harry concluded. Amazingly, Professor McGonagall simply nodded and turned on her heel, gesturing for them to follow. 

Hermione tentatively took a few steps, then glanced over her shoulder at Harry. He looked uncertain, perhaps incredulous at the lack of apparent punishment, but after a few moments he too followed the Professor. Hermione herself was certain they wouldn’t get away this easily.  _ But wandering the castle looking for Death Eaters  _ with  _ Professor McGonagall is still better than wandering the castle looking for Death Eaters  _ without  _ Professor McGonagall.  _

They rounded another corner and suddenly Hermione recognized where they were. The hospital wing was just down the corridor. McGonagall was leading them there after all. 

“Thank you, Professor,” she managed, “I know how to get to the hospital wing from here.”

Hermione opened the doors to the hospital wing and walked in, followed by Harry, Hagrid, and Professor McGonagall. It appeared to be empty. Madame Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen, and all the beds were empty. The whole room was in good order, everything tidy and in its place.  _ It looks like nobody’s been here in weeks,  _ Hermione thought.  _ Perhaps this is what it would look like if Harry didn’t go to this school.  _

Suddenly Hermione’s eye landed on something out of place—a dark streak on the otherwise sparkling floor. She crouched down and extended her fingertips to touch it, and found, with no surprise, that it was dirt.  _ The same dirt,  _ she was certain,  _ as I found in the Great Hall. It  _ was  _ a mandrake! _

Hermione stood up, her eyes glittering fiercely. She knew who had kidnapped Neville, and how. 

“Me, Hermione Granger,” she began, then stopped herself. “ _ I,  _ Hermione Granger, have no grammar. But that’s okay. I believe Neville was kidnapped with the aid of a mandrake plant, and I accuse...Draco Malfoy.”

Harry gasped. “ _ Excuse me?! _ ”

“You’re excused,” said Hermione, rolling her eyes. 

“That’s a very serious accusation!” Harry said indignantly. “You can’t just  _ accuse  _ Draco! Where’s your evidence?!”

“When did  _ you  _ start requiring evidence? As I recall, you accused Professor Umbridge solely because of a hunch! But if you insist, here.”

Hermione bent and picked something up from the floor, then held it out for Harry to examine. 

It was a single blond hair. 

Harry spluttered for a moment, then made a visible effort to collect himself. 

“Draco Malfoy did  _ not  _ kidnap Neville,” he said calmly. “I happen to know that he was somewhere else at the time of Neville’s disappearance.” He was trying his best to sound like Hermione, in hopes she would listen to him for once. Amazingly, it worked. She raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t appear to be questioning the truth of his statement. 

“Professor,” she said, and McGonagall stepped forward from the shadows behind Harry. “What do you think?”

“That does look like Mr. Malfoy’s hair, but with the lack of other evidence and Mr. Potter’s provision of an alibi, it is not possible to reach such conclusions as you have jumped to.”

Hermione glared first at Harry, then at Professor McGonagall. 

“Fine!” She said abruptly. 

McGonagall sighed. “It is entirely possible that the kidnapper  _ did  _ use a Mandrake, and that the kidnapping took place in this room. You may be correct in those regards.”

“You think?” said Hermione eagerly. 

“Perhaps,” said McGonagall, “but we can not be certain yet. I suggest you two return to the common room, and allow the Hogwarts teachers to continue the search for Mr. Longbottom.”

“No,” said Hermione, “we have to keep looking. We’re close to finding out what happened, I know it. We’re just missing something, some little clue...”

Professor McGonagall sighed once more, but she looked at Hermione with affection.

“In that case, since you are so determined to continue your search, I shall simply have to accompany you.”


	7. TURN SIX: GINNY

Ginny paced back and forth between the haphazard velvety poufs of the Divination room. She frowned, trying to think of some other explanation for Neville’s disappearance. Maybe he had simply wandered off somewhere?  _ A teacup and some rat droppings don’t make a very strong case for kidnapping.  _

No, he hadn’t wandered off. Evidence or no evidence, she was certain there was some foul play. If only she knew where, and how!

There was nothing more to be done here, that much was obvious. No, staring at the same teacup for more time wouldn’t help find Neville. It would be better for her to leave the room. Perhaps she would find some clue while wandering the halls, like she had before. 

She climbed down the ladder, then crept down one long hallway after another, careful not to disturb any portraits. While she walked, she tried to organize her thoughts. She needed a plan. Best to begin at the beginning of what she knew. 

_ Neville is missing. No one has seen him since...when? Lunch? Afternoon lessons? _

Ginny didn’t share Neville’s classes, being a year below him, but she could at least confirm that he had been present at lunch. What else did she know for certain?

_ The teachers think a Death Eater has gotten into the castle. That must be true, because someone put Lee Jordan under the Imperius curse.  _

None of this helped Ginny understand what had happened to Neville, however. She would need more clues. 

Looking around, she realized her wandering had taken her to the door of the Great Hall. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a really short one, sorry! nothing really happened on this turn so there just wasn't much to say :(


	8. TURN SEVEN: HARRY

Harry’s world exploded. All he could see was a deep, pulsing red, and something inside his skull was desperately trying to escape. Or perhaps his head was simply turning inside out. 

_ My head _ . Something had hit his head. Harry sat up cautiously, feeling the cold stone floor beneath him, and slowly opened one eye. 

The world was a hopeless blur.  _ And are those... _ birds  _ fluttering around me?  _ Harry shook his head to clear his vision, but instantly regretted the motion. Lightning bolts of pain shot through his forehead, and he winced, wondering vaguely whether Voldemort was nearby.  _ If he is, I don’t stand a chance,  _ he thought bleakly,  _ I’ve lost my glasses.  _

Harry opened the other eye and cautiously reached out his hand, feeling for his glasses. He found them and shoved them back onto his head, ignoring the cracks in the left lens. The world came back into focus, and he saw his attacker...

The wall.

“Are ye all righ’ there, Harry? Ye ran righ’ into the wall!” Hagrid’s voice confirmed what Harry had already realized. In his hasty attempt to exit the room, he had run straight into the stone wall. He grimaced, remembering the last time he had done so and wondering whether Dobby was behind this. He put one hand tentatively to his head and found a bump already growing there. The pain wasn’t his scar, then.

Harry tried to stand up, but fell down again with a wave of dizziness.  _ Maybe I’ll just sit for a while _ , he thought. Even thinking was painful.

After a few minutes, the pain in Harry’s head had receded enough to allow him to stand up. 

“I think I should go to the hospital wing,” he said aloud, then felt embarrassed. “To—to find the kidnapper. To find Neville. We haven’t looked there.”

Hagrid nodded solemnly and Harry cursed himself.  _ How did I walk straight into a  _ wall _?  _ He turned slowly around until he found the door, opened it, and cautiously stepped through. His caution was unnecessary; the door was real. 

_ This is the Room of Requirement,  _ he thought.  _ Why was there no door when I clearly required one? _

But his aching head could find no answers for such questions, so he merely walked down the hallway to the hospital wing. 

***

Even as he reached for the door handle, Harry knew that this was it. The proof he needed lay behind this door. He grasped the handle and turned, confident that Neville’s kidnapper would be discovered at any moment. 

He opened the door and saw her there, a vial and broom in her hand. 

“ _ Dolores Umbridge! _ ” he roared. “It  _ was  _ you! You kidnapped Neville, and now you’re trying to hide the evidence! You used a sleeping draught 

to—”

“Droft,” said a voice behind him. 

“Will you just leave me alone?” Harry sputtered, whirling around to glare at Hermione. 

“No,” she said, smirking. “Look! The kidnapper is getting away!”

Harry spun around, raising his wand even as his eye caught a pink blur skittering away from him. 

“ _ Petrificus totalus! _ ” he shrieked, and the pink blur froze. He watched as the momentum of her attempted escape carried her forward, not moving a muscle as she fell with a crunch on her toad like face. 

Harry walked slowly forward, savoring the echo of his steps in the vaulted ceiling of the hospital wing. He heard another two sets of footsteps behind him, that slowed abruptly when they reached the door, and knew that Ginny and Professor McGonagall had arrived. 

He crouched by the unmoving head of his hated professor, and spoke softly. 

“You’ve been caught, Professor. Don’t try anything, three of the most powerful witches in the school are in this room, not to mention Hagrid. We’re going to take you straight to Dumbledore’s office, and you’re going to tell us exactly where Neville is, and what you’ve done to him.” 

He paused for a moment.

“I think you know as well as I that you will not tell any lies.”

**Author's Note:**

> Small sections of each chapter are being posted on my instagram daily! @phi.random


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